I've Got Your 6

​**Author’s Note: This is in no way a political post and it is not an endorsement (or non-endorsement) of any candidate presently running for President. **
 
A couple of weeks ago, Pastor Paula White came out and endorsed GOP candidate Donald Trump for President.  As soon as the news broke, social media filled with outcries against Pastor White because of her endorsement of Donald Trump. Pastor White is the senior Pastor at New Destiny Christian Center near Orlando, Florida.  She is also host of her own TV show entitled Paula.  Pastor White was accused of bamboozling African-Americans because it was said that her ministry was built with black money and black influence.  People complained because Trump had been accused of making racist comments, being indignant towards women, Mexicans, etc. and a few weeks before Pastor White gave her endorsement, former KKK member David Duke threw his support behind Trump creating a firestorm of controversy from both sides of the political aisle.
 
During this time, I purposely stayed silent on all fronts and not because I did not have an opinion, but simply because I have learned the hard way that sometimes you have to let it all play out so that the whole truth surfaces.  A few days ago as I was preparing for bed, I received a revelation; I realized that this had nothing to do with Paula White (or Donald Trump for that matter).  What I began to understand is that the controversy is a pawn in the enemy’s elaborate chess game. In fact, if you unfollowed Pastor White on social media, unsubscribed from her blog/website you, my friend, took the bait. Why? Because, as a brilliant man told me recently, “the enemy is trying to kill us” – the devil is trying to kill us (and not just you or me, but the body of Christ at large) and he has used situations like this one with Pastor Paula White to take our eyes off the principal thing – WE ARE AT WAR! We are on the battlefield fighting a real enemy, one who has sent spies to our camp to cause division and stir up unrest in the body and we have not only allowed it but we’ve also participated in it!  We have taken the bait and instead of fighting the devil, we’ve been fighting and bickering amongst ourselves.  And while we are fighting with one another the enemy is stealing our influence, setting up camp in our church services and causing division amongst the body.  He has kept us distracted from the real fight against him.  Now, instead of fighting the enemy we are battling each other like we are enemy combatants.  What happened to being our brother’s keeper?  What happened to having each other’s back?
 
One day while watching a military show called “The Unit,” I heard the phrase “I got your 6,” and I didn’t understand what that meant so I took the time to find out.  The idea behind “I got your 6” is simple it literally means I have your back.  On the Unit, the soldiers went through their issues on base, but out on the battlefield it was a very different story.  No matter what happened off the battlefield, if they were in a fight on the battlefield, they protected one another.  If you’d come across them in battle you would have never known that there was an issue back on their base.  They covered one another and you never saw their bickering, strife, envy, or jealousy on the battlefield because it would have been a distraction that would have caused them to lose the fight.
 
Recently, I have been thinking about the term, “I got your 6” as it relates to the Kingdom of God, but even more specifically, the people of God.  How well do we cover one another?  How well do we cover our brothers and sisters or even our leaders?  As in the case of Pastor Paula White, there have been other prominent Christian leaders who, for one reason or another,  have garnered negative attention and one by one, believers posted and shared these negative stories on their Facebook and Twitter timelines.  The Bible tells us in I Peter 4:8 that, “…love covers a multitude of sins.”  Love covers but what does cover mean?  Cover means to shield, to protect.  As believers – men and women of the most high God – our job is not to discuss or gossip about the issue, but rather to pray (cover) to God about the situation.  We may not like what the leader has done, but we have to do as the Bible admonishes us and that is to pray for one another as well as our leaders (scripture references: Job 42:10 & I Timothy 2:2-3)  The word does not say talk about or gossip about - we are to pray.  What we must remember is that we are in a war – that’s right, you heard me we are in a battle with an enemy who does not quit, does not give up and while we know he has already been defeated, he is still fighting and trying to get us to die on the battlefield – We can’t do that!
 
Do you remember what I said about the members of the Unit?  No matter what happened at home, when they were on the battlefield they covered each other; they had each other’s backs, why?  Because they needed to protect each other and they didn’t want their enemy to come up behind them and take them out; even if they had the biggest blow up on base, when they got on that field they were a team and they covered one another; they protected one another.  As believers, we must cover and protect one another.  That does not mean that we condone the behavior of our brothers and sisters, but it does mean that we don’t judge them, or gossip about it, but we take it to God in prayer.  We cover them with love and prayer, simply.  And when you pray, let the Holy Spirit pray through you by using your Heavenly language.  Holy Spirit makes the best intercession because He already knows the beginning and the end so let Him make the petitions for you.
 
Whether you know it or not, the world is looking at us to see how we will respond and how we will act, but what image are we giving them?  The world does not always judge Jesus through the Word of God, but rather through us – the body of Christ - but how does it look to the world when we spend more time gossiping about others in the body.  Let me tell you, we are in a war – some days it does not feel like a war because the enemy isn't bringing the problems to our door or dropping the crazy everywhere we go at the moment, but we are at war.  We need to recognize that our Kingdom response should not be to repost and share on Facebook and Twitter, but rather to go into our prayer closet and pray.  Just like we have the choice to post or not, we also have the choice to cover.
 
In the case of Pastor Paula White, I will not say that her choice to support Donald Trump was right or wrong (and yes, I do have an opinion) but the issue is greater than that.  Some of us have allowed her personal political preference to stop us from hearing what God has to say through her, and in doing so, you are missing out on the Word God has for you and that’s not cool! You may not agree with the political choice she has made, but do not tune her out because of it. God is still God and He will use whomever He will to get the Word to you, but don’t get so caught up in the messenger that you miss the message.  Our job is not to judge her political affiliations, but rather to pray that she will align herself with Godly people.  Our job is not to judge her political endorsements, but rather to pray that God’s choice will be the next President (not man’s).  Beloveds, our job is simply to cover; there are so many more battles to be fought and won, but when we cover each other we are a whole lot stronger together than we are apart.
 
I Got Your 6!
Liela 

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